Contents

History

Before 1973, when it was identified as Tall-i Malyan[1], Anshan
had been assumed by scholars to be somewhere in the central Zagros
mountain range[2].

The Elamite city appears to have been quite ancient; it makes an
appearance in the early Sumerian epic Enmerkar and the Lord of
Aratta as being en route between Uruk and the legendary Aratta, supposedly around the time writing was
developed. At various times, Anshan provided, in its own right, the
source for a number of Elamite dynasties that sometimes competed
for extent and influence with other prominent Elamite cities.

Manishtushu
claimed to have subjugated Anshan, but as the Akkadian empire weakened under his
successors, the native governor of Susa, Kutik-Inshushinak, a scion of the Awan dynasty,
proclaimed his independence from Akkad and captured Anshan (some
scholars have speculated that the name Awan is an alternate form of Anshan). Following
this, Gudea of Lagash claimed to have subjugated Anshan, and
the Neo-Sumerian rulers Shulgi and Shu-Sin of Ur are
said to have maintained their own governors over the place. However
their successor, Ibbi-Sin,
seems to have spent his reign engaged in a losing struggle to
maintain control over Anshan, ultimately resulting in the Elamite
sack of Ur in 2004 BC, at which time the statue of Nanna, and Ibbi-Sin himself, were captured and
removed to Anshan[3]. In the
Old Babylonian period, king Gungunum of Larsa dated his 5th regnal year after the
destruction of Anshan.

From the 15th
century BC, Elamite rulers at Susa began using the title "King
of Anshan and Susa" (in Akkadian texts, the toponyms are reversed,
as "King of Susa and Anshan")[4], and it
seems probable that Anshan and Susa were in fact unified for much
of the "Middle Elamite period". The last king to claim this title
was Shutruk-Nahhunte II (ca. 717-699 BC)[5].

Cradle of Achaemenid
Persia

Anshan fell under Persian Achaemenid rule in the
7th century
BC, having been captured by Teispes (675–640
BC), who styled himself "King of the city of Anshan". For another
century during the period of Elamite decline, Anshan was a minor
kingdom, until the Achaemenids in the 6th century BC embarked on a series of
conquests from Anshan, which became the nucleus of the Persian Empire.

Archaeology

The site of Anshan covers around 200 hectares. The main feature
is a low flat-topped mound of about 130 hectares running 4-6 meters
in height. On three sides are the remains of a city wall 5
kilometers in length dating from the Late Banesh and Kaftari
periods. Finds at Tall-i Malyan included primarily Proto-Elamite and
Middle Elamite cuneiform tablets, seals, and a pottery sequence
important to dating the chronology of the region. The most notable
find was a building brick of Elamite king Hatelutus-Insusinak which
confirmed that the site was indeed Anshan.

The site was first worked by Ferydoun Tavalloli of the
Archaeological Service of Iran in 1961. No records or publications
of that effort appear to exist, though some artifacts ended up in
the Persepolis Museum. Scientific excavation began in 1971 with a
team, led by William Sumner, from the University of Pennsylvania
and Ohio State University after a
survey in 1968. [6][7][8][9] The dig
continued for several seasons until 1978, when the Iranian
Revolution intervened. Most recently, Tal-i Malyan was
excavated by Kamyar Abdi in 1999. [10]